Jordan Spieth hits his tee shot on the 18th hole during the third round of The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Saturday. / Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

by Christine Brennan, USA TODAY Sports

by Christine Brennan, USA TODAY Sports

AUGUSTA, Ga. â?? At exactly 6:22 p.m. ET Saturday, Jordan Spieth's name popped to the top of the leaderboard at the 2014 Masters.

Bubba Watson had just bogeyed the 16th hole, falling into a tie with Spieth, but because the 20-year-old Texan was in the process of finishing with a par at 18 and farther along in his round, he received top-billing.

Little more than a year ago, Spieth was hoping to earn his PGA Tour card through the Web.com Tour. Now he goes into Sunday tied for the lead of the Masters, for when the third round was over, Watson could only match Spieth's total of 5-under par, ensuring that Spieth would be playing in the final pairing on the final day of his first Masters.

Perhaps even more important, a major tournament that is so desperately in need of a serious jolt of star power without having either Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson here on the weekend for the first time in 20 years now just might have it in Spieth. Were he to win, he would become the youngest Masters champion ever, beating Tiger, circa 1997, by nearly seven months. If you're missing a couple of big-name veterans, replacing them with the newest new thing isn't a bad alternative.

"I'm 20 and this is the Masters, and this is a tournament I've always dreamt about and, like Mr. (Ben) Crenshaw has always said, it brings out more emotion than ever in somebody," Spieth said after his second consecutive round of 70 followed his opening 71 Thursday.

"I'm able to take a lot of confidence out of today, a lot of positives," he said. "I wanted to get into contention, not just as a goal to get into contention, but to see how I can perform on a Sunday. Today was a day to stay patient and try and get myself a later tee time even than today, and that goal was accomplished. And tomorrow is about seeing how I can control my game and emotions out on the golf course against guys that have won here recently. That doesn't necessarily mean that they have an advantage in any way. I think that I'm very confident in the way things are going, and really looking forward to tomorrow."

Can you believe a 20-year-old who didn't make it through the second stage of Q School in 2012 and had no playing status on the PGA Tour at the start of the 2013 season is talking like this, with such poise and confidence? Or that he is in this position?

Even though Spieth is the only player besides Woods to have won multiple U.S. Junior Amateur titles, there is very little else about his rise to the top of the third-round leaderboard that is reminiscent of Tiger.

He was without a tour card when he started the 2013 season, but a tie for second in the Puerto Rico Open that March changed everything. Then he won the John Deere Classic in July by sinking a bunker shot to get into what turned into a five-hole playoff. At 19, he became the youngest winner on the PGA Tour in 82 years.

He then became the youngest player in U.S. Presidents Cup history and has finished in the top 10 four times this year on tour. But everything pales in comparison to what he has done here this week. The first two days, playing with Rory McIlroy, he beat him by seven strokes. On Saturday, he played with defending champion Adam Scott and beat him by six strokes.

Whether this can last is anyone's guess, but so far it's a dream come true for a kid from Dallas who has grown up trying to picture what it might be like to win the Masters.

"You draw on memories of guys that have made the putts on the last hole, from Phil to Tiger to last year with Adam on 18 and then on 10," said Spieth, who could be the first Masters first-timer to win since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979. "You just dream of what it would mean and how cool it would be and all those putts I hit when I was real young with my friends trying to make it to win the Masters. I would love the opportunity to test it tomorrow."